Hi, I have seen an old question like this. My System Data takes up a stupid amount of space. I've had Macs since 1986 and never had this problem before buying the latest version iMac running on Monterey 12.2. I can't upgrade my OS let along run basic programs as there is no disc space. Any ideas please?
iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15
Manage Storage
It is generally a good computer practice to alway keep at least 15% to 20% of the Total Drive Capacity’s as Empty Space. Allowing the computer to drop below these guidelines may eventually, cause unintended consequences.
There is Purgeable Space and there is Empty Space.
Purgeable Space which is Controlled by the Operating System. When the Operating Systems decides the computer needs additional Empty Space, it will move a portion of the Purgeable to Empty space
AFAIK - there is no User Actions to hasten this transition from Purgeable to Empty Space
It can day or longer before this will occur
The links below will assist in identifying what is taking up space on the Internal Drive and provide possible ways to remove data that is under the direct control of the User ( Home Folder ) .
Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac
What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how can I clean it out?
Free up storage space on your Mac
GrandPerspective
How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac.
Often caused if the Time Machine Drive has not been attached to the computer and TM Backup is set to run on a Schedule.
TM Backup will make Snap Shot on the Internal Drive awaiting the TM Backup Drive to be attached.
Only then will the Snaps Shots be transferred to the External Drive and deleted the Internal Drive.
See used and available storage space on your Mac
Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Notation - If the user is using a cloning software like Carbon Copy Cloner - suggest tweaking the Safety Net Feature in this software. It may be making additional Snap Shots that are not being Cloned to the Eternal Drive. If this should be the case, these Snap Shot could be using additional space on the drive
The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other/ System Data “ Category
Other / System Data: Contains files that don’t fall into the categories listed here. This category primarily includes files and data used by the system, such as log files, caches, VM files, and other runtime system resources. Also included are temporary files, fonts, app support files, and plug-ins. You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.
Manage Storage
It is generally a good computer practice to alway keep at least 15% to 20% of the Total Drive Capacity’s as Empty Space. Allowing the computer to drop below these guidelines may eventually, cause unintended consequences.
There is Purgeable Space and there is Empty Space.
Purgeable Space which is Controlled by the Operating System. When the Operating Systems decides the computer needs additional Empty Space, it will move a portion of the Purgeable to Empty space
AFAIK - there is no User Actions to hasten this transition from Purgeable to Empty Space
It can day or longer before this will occur
The links below will assist in identifying what is taking up space on the Internal Drive and provide possible ways to remove data that is under the direct control of the User ( Home Folder ) .
Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac
What is “Other” storage on a Mac, and how can I clean it out?
Free up storage space on your Mac
GrandPerspective
How to delete Time Machine snapshots on your Mac.
Often caused if the Time Machine Drive has not been attached to the computer and TM Backup is set to run on a Schedule.
TM Backup will make Snap Shot on the Internal Drive awaiting the TM Backup Drive to be attached.
Only then will the Snaps Shots be transferred to the External Drive and deleted the Internal Drive.
See used and available storage space on your Mac
Locate backups of your iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Notation - If the user is using a cloning software like Carbon Copy Cloner - suggest tweaking the Safety Net Feature in this software. It may be making additional Snap Shots that are not being Cloned to the Eternal Drive. If this should be the case, these Snap Shot could be using additional space on the drive
The final word from Apple on Managing the " Other/ System Data “ Category
Other / System Data: Contains files that don’t fall into the categories listed here. This category primarily includes files and data used by the system, such as log files, caches, VM files, and other runtime system resources. Also included are temporary files, fonts, app support files, and plug-ins. You can't manage the contents of this category. The contents are managed by macOS, and the category varies in size depending on the current state of your Mac.
Hi P, Firstly I don't do auto updates as I've had problems in the past with some programs not working so that's why it's an old OS.
Secondly for you and anyone else interested or that it might help I tried deleting any old Time Machine backups without success and couldn't find what else was causing the System Data to take up so much space. After deleting what I could I was left with 40G spare HD so then I could upgrade to the latest version of Monterey. This made no difference.
So then I upgraded to Ventura and now have 126G spare HD and System Data only taking up 40G!! So problem fixed and computer is running much faster.
Ian Zeunert wrote:
Hello, Thank you very much for your reply. I will try those suggestions. Just to clarify I haven't put too much on the HD. Mac OS is 25.39G, Apps 22.9, Docs 18.37, Messages 17 and then some smaller categories. These all take up about 100G out of 250. The 'System Data' take up a whopping 144G which doesn't allow me to upgrade the OS or run some programs.
How may upGrades in macOS has this computer experienced in its' lifetime ?
Judging from the byline associated with your profile iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.15
If the machine started with macOS 10.15 Catalina, moved to macOS 11 Big Sur and now on macOS 12 Monterey - sorry but the accumulated effects of the upgrades maybe the root cause of System Data issue
Since Big Sur macOS 11 and all newer versions of macOS - The Operating System resides in a Sealed and Read Only Volume that can not be opened by the User nor by Third Party Applications.
The only Entity that can open and modify or alter this Volume is Apple.
That would occur when a update or UpGrade is performed.
EDITED
Regards,
Ian
To get a better idea what the Original version of macOS the computer Originally Came with.
Use " About this Mac " from the Apple Icon on Desktop - the required Information will be there.
Post a Screen Shot Without the Serial Number
Hello, Thank you very much for your reply. I will try those suggestions. Just to clarify I haven't put too much on the HD. Mac OS is 25.39G, Apps 22.9, Docs 18.37, Messages 17 and then some smaller categories. These all take up about 100G out of 250. The 'System Data' take up a whopping 144G which doesn't allow me to upgrade the OS or run some programs.
Regards,
Ian
Hi P. Thanks again for your reply. Pretty sure it has the original OS it came with. I am trying to upgrade which is why I found the problem. One possibility is Time Machine backup as I was using TM but have stopped. Maybe the Mac is making temp backups until the external HD is reconnected??
Thank you and Yes probably Monterey was original version.
Though, if all the Setting in the Apple Software Update Applet in System Preferences were enabled, it is puzzling why the machine is still on Monterey 12.2 ? Released Jan 26, 2022 Monterey macOS 12.2 ( ( 21D49 )
Normally and predicted on the above observation, the Apple Servers would have at least Offered a Notification of an update
The Current version is Monterey 12.6.5
Thank you for the updated information.
Good work there and remedial action taken
Is may have been the upGrade to Ventura.
It may have cause the Operating System to release some of the Purgeable Space back to Empty Space as outlined in the original reply to this question
Whatever it was, happy computing
System Data takes up 144G of 245G HD!!!
